LONDON:

It was to be a light-hearted celebration, the event’s organisers had insisted, and certainly the snaking queue of audience were ready for all the fun that Duran Duran, Brian Ferry and Take That could offer.

An extraordinarily mixed bag of performers lined up to appear in front of the 63,000 people. They were selected, the princes said, because they were “her favourites and ours”.

First on stage, delighting the crowd was Sir Elton John singing Your Song. Then the young princes themselves took to the microphone, Harry even allowing himself a brief rock star moment, yelling “Hello Wembley!” to the audience. “This evening

is about all that our mother loved in life: her music, her dance, her charities, her family and friends,” Harry said.

While acts like Rod Stewart, and Roger Hodgson of Supertramp were some of the Princess’ personal favourites; Lily Allen was among her son’s choices. She joined P Diddy, Pharrell Williams, Orson, James Morrison, Joss Stone, Kanye West, Nelly Furtado, Will Young and Natasha Bedingfield on an eclectic bill. In honour of Diana’s love of dance and musical theatre, there was a performance of an act from Swan Lake by the English National Ballet and songs by Andrew Lloyd Webber. Joe Perry of Aerosmith joined Sir Tom Jones on stage for a rendition of Kiss. The result was a mix of music to suit all tastes - rappers, rockers and pop-lovers alike.

It was touching to watch the footage of Diana, screened in the many breaks between performa-nces — inspecting another troop line, cuddling another toddler, waving yet another posy at yet another adoring crowd.